Archive for December, 2010

On the eve of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Day (23 November), Rasa Jukneviciene, Lithuanian Defence Minister and deputy chair of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, said that if Lithuania does not increase its defense funding, the country may be unable to perform the duties of a NATO country, Veidas weekly magazine wrote on 22 November.

Veidas – Was the statement an exaggeration? Are the 870 million Litas planned for 2011 not enough to maintain our defense system? These were the first questions we asked the defense minister.

Jukneviciene – The numbers and the real situation speak for themselves. Latvia, Poland, and Estonia can allocate more to defense than Lithuania can right now. This is why my warnings that Lithuania may be unable to perform duties of a NATO country are justified. I would like to remind you that when Lithuania was in the process of joining NATO, it promised that it would be a perfect member of NATO. However, after Lithuania joined NATO, all the promises and efforts vanished for some reason. There is an article in the NATO Treaty, according to which each country, together with the other NATO members, is responsible for the defense of its territory. After Lithuania joined NATO, the people were lulled into believing that Lithuania was safe and that it did not need to do anything, that all we needed to do was to participate in missions, and that we did not need to pay any serious attention to our own defense. NATO’s work is based on certain principles; its strength actually depends on the strength of its members.

Are you saying that Lithuania is not a full-fledged NATO partner and that it is not capable of effectively defending itself or helping the partners?

Leader of the third most popular political party of Lithuania, currently is in opposition, announced that Lithuania should be the first country in the world abolishing the representative democracy and introducing direct democracy instead. Rolandas Paksas, Lithuania’s impeached President, currently a Member of the European Parliament and the leader of the Order and Justice Party suggested this today, during his party’s convention, where he was reelected as the party leader.

The opposition managed to start the interpellation against the Minister of Energy Arvydas Sekmokas. The initiator of the interpellation, the elder of the opposition Order and Justice party Valentinas Mazuronis said that the text of interpellation contains questions ‘about the gas sector, the situation in the energy sector, there are also questions about the ministry’s financial and economic matters, as well as possible employment of relatives and party fellows.

Some 15 protesters staged a demonstration in the front of the embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Vilnius today. They held placards ‘Freedom for Tibet political prisoners’, ‘Freedom for Liu Xiaobo’. The protesters expressed their dissatisfaction with the Human Rights situation in China and expressed support for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.